5: Between Yeovil Junction and Pen Mill Monday to Friday.

I notice that if you journey between Pen Mill and the Junction on a Saturday, you have to overnight there before you can get the next service back on a Sunday morning. Maybe it would be quicker to walk!

Note that (some or all?) of the NR versions are valid to 12 December 2025! Table 133 for example. NR needs to catch up!

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 It would have been a very serious act of vandalism to use the standard massive wiring gantries on a prominent route through a World Heritage City.

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Asking questions that perhaps I should not:

* Is there some logic in having a more "cyclic" timetable which allows trains to be longer in summer and shorter in winter, allowing for more units to be under heavier maintenance when traffic levels are lower?  I appreciate that there are Newquay and Pembroke Dock difference already - though are those more vestiges of history?

* A modest thinning out of tourist services during the winter would allow for staff training to catch up and (ducks!) for staff to take their holidays away from the peak  .

* An adding of a few minutes here and there into schedules to avoid working trains to the extreme, though noting that the cycle length increase would tend to add the need for another train in the cycle, or reduce the frequency considering how short most turn rounds are already

I expect howls of "yes, but" ... but questions asked so "why not" can be explained.

Operation Brock sees lorries heading to Dover queue on one side of the M20

The government is considering introducing a scaled-back version of a traffic-holding measure for vehicles queueing to cross the English Channel.

Operation Brock, a contraflow system on the M20 coast-bound in Kent, currently runs between junction eight, near Leeds Castle, and junction nine, near Ashford.

But the Department of Transport (DfT) is looking at starting it further down the motorway to try to stop lorries cutting through nearby villages. "We recognise the impact Operation Brock has on residents, which is why we continue to work closely with the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum to improve safety, reduce local disruption, and develop longer-term traffic management solutions," a DfT spokesperson said.

Operation Brock can currently be used to park 2,000 lorries, but Brock 2 or Mini Brock, as it is being called, could see that decrease to about 1,700. The last time Operation Brock was completely full was in the summer of 2022.

Helen Whately, MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, said Operation Brock was "beyond infuriating" and that she backed the push for a scaled-back version. "Brock jams up our roads when traffic grinds to a halt, lorries cut through villages, and families face delays getting to work," she said. "It was meant to be only for emergencies, now it's a regular headache."

Operation Brock is funded by the DfT, with decisions on its use made by the Kent and Medway Resilience Forum. On average, the operation costs about £250,000 each time it is deployed, a Freedom of Information request revealed.

The scheme was put in place overnight on Monday and was expected to be removed overnight on 22 December, with the motorway reopening as normal on 23 December.

The Kent and Medway Resilience Forum said if traffic started to build, drivers should check their route before setting off, allow extra time for their journey and pack their car with essentials, including food, water and medication.

In July, Kent County Council said it was looking for alternatives to Operation Brock, including an off-road lorry facility to try to ease congestion.

This would make sense - I'm right in thinking that the 802s are GWRs own trains that they specced at the higher power rating for the GUs?, while the 800s are those that Hitachi own & specced to the DfT requirement & are lower rated?

So putting the 800s under less long-distance working off the wires? Ties in with the amended timetable starting on January 5th....

Travelled past Sydney Gardens last Saturday on a diverted London-bound IET. If the good burghers of Bath really cared about the local environment as much as they claim how come they haven't forced their council to immediately remove the graffiti that I observed?

This would make sense - I'm right in thinking that the 802s are GWRs own trains that they specced at the higher power rating for the GUs?, while the 800s are those that Hitachi own & specced to the DfT requirement & are lower rated?

So putting the 800s under less long-distance working off the wires? Ties in with the amended timetable starting on January 5th....

3.  The Maidenhead-Marlow branch, which at peak times is operated as two linked hops.

On this day in 1773, a group of men dressed in Mohawk headdresses and cheered by a crowd of thousands threw tea belonging to the British East India Company into Boston Harbor. Britain's punitive response to the Boston Tea Party, which was a protest against taxes, helped push American colonists closer to war.

Perhaps timetables are my thing too 

1. Looks to me like the North Cotswolds line out of Paddington, showing the direct trains to Oxford with calls at Slough (none shown), Reading, Didcot Parkway (again none shown), plus the 1704 ‘Halts Turbo’ from Didcot Parkway, as far as Kingham.

I'm led to believe that we are to return to the "bad old days" of 802s only on the WofE route, and 800s being used more or less exclusively only east of Exeter. This will of course lead to potential shortforms and cancellations on SW services if an 800 cannot readily substitute for an 802 as is commonplace at present. It's noticeable since 800s began coming to the far south west regularly (since Covid), that there have been fewer short forms , and more 9 car trains and a better overall service on GWRs "most intercity" route. These changes are apparently needed as the 800s are being downrated power wise, whilst the 802s will remain with the higher power settings needed for the more challenging WofE route. So slower journey times on 800 served routes, and less stock availability on 802 WofE routes. What isn't to like.........

Not necessarily, ChrisB.

Many of the railway station platform help point machine's 'Emergency' buttons simply go into the local 999 system. However, even the Office of Rail and Road themselves acknowledge that that can be rather flaky.

I would prefer to follow the guidance from Network Rail themselves.


CfN.